What to Know
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Mayor Bill de Blasio will be running for president, defying deep voter opposition at home to enter the crowded field[hhmc]
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De Blasio will announce his candidacy on Thursday morning[hhmc]
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De Blasio becomes the first sitting mayor of New York City to run for president since John Lindsay's brief run in 1972[hhmc]
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is officially running for president, defying deep voter opposition at home to enter the crowded field with an unabashed message of progressivism.
De Blasio launched his website Thursday morning and will make an announcement later with his wife Chirlane McCray before traveling to Iowa to headline an event in Sioux City, which local Democrats are calling the "first stop on his presidential announcement tour." The mayor will then head to South Carolina for the weekend.
He joins a Democratic field with almost two dozen other candidates.
In mounting a bid, the mayor is essentially ignoring the voters who overwhelmingly elected him to City Hall twice. An April 3 Quinnipiac poll found 76 percent of New York City voters opposed the idea of him running for the White House.
Mayor Bill de Blasio to Announce 202 Presidential Bid
![[NY] Mayor Bill de Blasio to Announce 202 Presidential Bid](https://i0.wp.com/media.nbcnewyork.com/images/620*349/Mayor_Bill_de_Blasio_to_Announce_202_Presidential_Bid.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Even in his most traditionally loyal demographics — black voters and voters in the Bronx — seven out of every 10 were against the idea of him running for president.
De Blasio becomes the first sitting mayor of New York City to run for president since John Lindsay's brief run in 1972. (Rudy Giuliani ran for president after his term as mayor ended, and Michael Bloomberg flirted with a run but never formally launched a campaign.)
De Blasio is the city's 109th mayor, coming into office in 2014, and has been a progressive voice on certain issues including early childhood education, immigration reform and voting rights.
He was born on May 8, 1961 in Manhattan and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of New York University and ColumRead More – Source
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